[SaltLifeCC]

I'm confused - are you talking about using 4 trolling batteries? Or are you thinking of charging the batteries with the 12v charger? 1 at a time - what a pain.

Can't speak to whether your existing charger will work or not. But, the opposite of your question comes up quite a bit on Precedents that have 4 12v batteries, like mine does, and whether or not it is worth it to convert to 6 8v batteries. I've seen 2 things to consider given to those questions. First, it is said that 8v batteries will give better range. Second, it has been said that they last longer before needing to be replaced. As you have pointed out for your situation, mine is similar in that range hasn't been an issue for us. While we use our cart more than 30 minutes a day when we take it camping, it has never run out on us before we were done with it for the day. So, for me, why pay the expense to swap to 8v's if the 12v stock setup is doing what I need it to. As for lasting longer before needing to be replaced, I don't know that yet. Mine are 08 batteries and still working fine. I suppose some mathematical reasons can be given to support the longer life argument, but I don't have them. I've owned the cart for maybe a year now and I'm most likely going to keep it past the point of needing a new set of batteries. But, before those go south, it probably won't belong to me anymore, anyway.

I think my 2 cents in your case would be: if you got 13 years out of a set of 8v batteries, why change anything, whether you need the extra range or not. I certainly wouldn't want to charge each 12v battery up separately - unless you are just talking about using it occasionally for the desulfication feature. In all the posts I've read about converting Precedents from 12v to 8v packs, I haven't seen anyone say a new charger was needed. As a matter of fact, I think you'd find that many have the same chargers but have different setups (12v vs. 8v), so my guess is it would work fine. All that said, if I just got 13 years out of a battery pack, I'd probably be looking at putting exactly what was in it, back in it, or as close as I could get, and hope for another 13 year run.